(Radio Iowa) — Republicans at the statehouse have unveiled a proposal to give the legislature and governor more authority in choosing Iowa judges. Iowa governors would continue nominating eight members of the panel that interviews and recommends a slate of nominees for judicial openings, but senators would no longer review and vote on the governor’s appointments. And the Iowa Bar Association — representing the state’s legal profession — would no longer name the other eight members of the Judicial Nominating Commission. Representative Steve Holt of Denison says under the G-O-P alternative, the top four legislative leaders in the House and Senate — from both parties — would nominate half of the commission members.

“Much more accountability for the people,” Holt said, “because now everyone in this process that would be naming people to this commission would be elected representatives of the people.”

Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mike Cady, author of the 2009 opinion that legalized same-sex marriage in Iowa, was elected by the other justices as their chief eight years ago. The G-O-P’s plan also would require Iowa Supreme Court Justices to vote every two years on who among them should be chief justice.  “And we think that just brings more accountability to him from his own justices on the court,” Holt says.

Senate Democratic Leader Janet Pedersen says Republicans are trying politicize Iowa’s court system because they’ve never gotten over the court’s 2009 same-sex marriage ruling.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — After decades of failed attempts, work has begun on a $73 million project to restore a once elegant but long abandoned hotel in Sioux City. The Sioux City Journal reports that developer Lew Weinberg and real estate company Restoration St. Louis are working to restore the Warrior Hotel. The hotel was built in 1930 but closed in 1976. The adjacent Davidson Building is also being remodeled, and the two sites are slated to be turned into a hotel, luxury apartments and retail spaces.

Amy and Amrit Gill own Restoration St. Louis. The Gills are researching the hotel’s Art Deco design, with the goal of depicting some of the building’s original style in some areas while also adding modern amenities.
Work is expected to be completed in 2020.

(Radio Iowa) — A bill that would dramatically raise the fine for killing a bald eagle in Iowa has again soared past an initial hearing in the House. Backers say last year’s attempt to raise the state fine from 50 bucks all the way to 25-hundred dollars failed due to timing, not from lack of support. Kay Neumann of Saving Our Avian Resources — which stands for SOAR — says in January her non-profit received an eagle that was shot in Dallas County. “It destroyed a wing. We had to euthanize that bird,” Neumann says. “…This would be a wonderful deterrent.”

About eight percent of the eagles admitted to the Carroll County facility Newmann works in have been shot. Neumann says raising the state fine for shooting at an eagle should have been raised long ago.  “We need to have some protection for eagles in the state of Iowa,” Neumann says, “and we need to give this to our conservation officers so that they can have a better opportunity to prevent this from happening.”

Dale Garner, a top administrator in the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says it’s difficult to imagine someone accidentally shooting a bald eagle.  “There’s not many birds that have a pure white head and a black body,” Garner says, “so it’s hard to mistake them.”

The number of eagles in Iowa swells from about 500 to three-thousand in the winter. Officials say about 40 eagles have been illegally killed IN IOWA over the past four years and all cases were forwarded to the feds. That’s because the federal penalty for capturing, killing or destroying an eagle is 25-hundred dollars. The bill to raise the fine to that level is now eligible for debate in the House Natural Resources Committee. The bald eagle became a federally-protected species in 1940. The Continental Congress chose the bald eagle as the national emblem in 1782.

COLFAX, Iowa (AP) — An Illinois man who bought a Mega Millions ticket in central Iowa’s Jasper County has claimed a $1 million prize. Iowa Lottery officials say 60-year-old Danny Lovett, of East Moline, Illinois, took his winning ticket Monday to lottery headquarters in Clive. The ticket matched the first five numbers in the Jan. 15 drawing but missed the Mega Ball number and the $55 million jackpot. A ticket bought in California for the Jan. 15 drawing also is worth $1 million.

Lovett drives a truck route from Davenport to Des Moines and often stops at a Kum & Go store in Colfax for coffee, a snack and a lottery ticket. He says he’ll use his winnings for a house, retirement and to buy his dream car: a 1972 Ford Mustang fastback. Lottery officials say Colfax resident George Dickerson claimed a $1 million Powerball prize in January 2018 with a ticket he bought at the same Kum & Go store in Colfax.

Creston Police report two arrests occurred Monday. 29-year old Caleb Benjamin Bensky Fredrickson, of Lorimor, was arrested in Creston on a Union County Warrant for 3rd Degree Theft. Frederickson was being held at the Union County Jail on a $2,000 bond. And, 38-year old Robert Benjamin Girard, of Lenox, was arrested at the Union County Law Center, on a Union County Warrant for Failure to Appear for an original charge of 5th Degree Theft. Girard was being held at the Union County Jail on a $300 bond.

The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m. From KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — In the first full month of her presidential campaign, Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris is planning a tour of the nation’s four early-voting states. Harris’ schedule announced Tuesday includes two days each in South Carolina, New Hampshire, Iowa and Nevada, states where support will be key to building momentum in a crowded 2020 Democratic field. The first-term senator from California will make her first visit to New Hampshire and then her first stop in Nevada since she officially declared her candidacy. She will be returning to Iowa and South Carolina, which she visited after launching her bid.

While the Harris campaign said specifics would be released later, the dates of her early-states tour are: South Carolina, Feb. 15-16; New Hampshire, Feb. 18-19; Iowa, Feb. 23-24; and Nevada, Feb. 28-March 1.
Harris, 54, announced her candidacy Jan. 21 during a national TV appearance, then appeared at an official kickoff rally Jan. 27 before thousands of people in downtown Oakland, California.
Harris’ campaign has already named Deidre DeJear as her campaign chair in Iowa and Will Dubbs as Iowa state director, signs of how the nascent campaign is growing in the state holding the first voting of the 2020 primary.

In New Hampshire, Harris has added Craig Brown as her campaign’s state director.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A jury has acquitted a 31-year-old man accused of punching to death a 2-year-old girl in Iowa County. Court records say Cody Stevenson was found not guilty Monday of first-degree murder. A criminal complaint said Stevenson struck the daughter of his live-in girlfriend three or four times in the abdomen on June 30, 2017, at a Williamsburg apartment. Authorities say the girl died three days later.

He testified Friday that he’d told authorities that he punched the girl but said so only to protect her mother. He says she punched her daughter. Court records don’t show the woman has been charged. The trial was moved to Cedar Rapids because of pretrial publicity.

The Audubon County Sheriff’s Office, Monday, posted a report on arrests dating back to early January. Most recently:

• 41-year old Scottie Lynn Mitchell, of Exira, was arrested Monday morning (2/4), for Domestic Abuse 1st Offense. His arrest was the result of an investigation into an incident that occurred on January 26th. Mitchell appeared in front of the Magistrate and was released.
• 28-year old Blake Daniel Johannes, of Audubon, was arrested Friday morning, for Harassment in the 1st Degree. Johannes was released a short time later after appearing before the Magistrate.
• On Jan. 30th, 30-year old Jessica Lynn Pedrin, of Audubon, was arrested on an outstanding warrant for four counts of Violation of a No Contact Order. Pedrin was being held in the Audubon County Jail on a $1,200 bond.

Other arrests in January:

• Jan. 16th, 32-year old Robert Lee Crawley, of Hamlin, was arrested for Violation of a No Contact Order. He was released after appearing before the Magistrate.
• Jan. 7th, 30-year old Jay Robert Pedrin, of Audubon, was charged with six counts of Violation of a No Contact Order while being held in the Audubon County Jail on Burglary 2nd and Willful Injury/Domestic Abuse charges. He currently has a $35,800 bond.
• 31-year old Andrew Michael Templemeyer, of Storm Lake and 35-year old Brandon Michael Barringer, of Brayton, were arrested on outstanding warrants for two counts of Unlawful Possession of a Prescription Drug. The charges stem from a traffic stop that occurred on January 1st on Highway 71 near 335th Street. Both appeared before the Magistrate and were released.
• 30-year old Craig Brian Torgerson, of Foxboro, Wisconsin, was arrested January 6th, for OWI-1st Offense. The arrest was the result of a traffic stop that occurred on January 6th at the intersection of 345th & Lark Avenue.Torgerson posted a $1,000 bond the following morning and was released.
• 31-year old Allison Marie Martin, of Manning, was arrested January 1st, for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Her arrest stemmed from a traffic stop that occurred on Highway 71 near 335th Street. Allison was cited and released on the charge, but an arrest warrant was later requested for her arrest for two counts of Unlawful Possession of a Prescription Drugs stemming from the same stop. Martin turned herself in on the warrant January 31st, and was released after appearing before the Magistrate later that morning.
• And, 43-year old Dale Langenfeld Jr., of Plattsmouth, Nebraska, turned himself in on an outstanding Audubon County warrant for Leaving the Scene of an Accident. The warrant stemmed from an accident that occurred on September 7th in the 200 block of Fairview Street in Exira. He posted a $300 bond and was released.

Red Oak Police, Monday night, arrested a woman on an assault charge after officers responded to a residence in the 1300 block of Sunnyslope Drive, for a physical domestic assault in progress. Officers separated both parties and arrested 26-year old Bailey Anne Bostwick, of Red Oak, for Domestic Abuse Assault/1st offense. Bostwick was taken into custody at around 8:30-p.m. and transported to the Montgomery County Jail, where she was being held without bond, pending an appearance before the magistrate.